Duxbury girls’ tennis coach Jutta Rossano had a stellar season in her first year of varsity coaching. Qualifying for postseason play with a 14-4 record, the second-year mentor will try to improve on last year’s record, but it won’t be easy.

While Rossano is fortunate to have Michaela Dowd at No. 1 singles for another two years, the rest of the lineup will need some tinkering in order to duplicate its 2009 campaign.

The first critical change will come at No. 2 singles ,where senior Cory Tucker will take over for the graduated Liza Thomas.

Having played a crucial role at No. 1 doubles last year, Tucker will take on the challenges of the singles game.

“Corey has a real challenge ahead of her,” says Rossano. “But she can do it.”

Junior Casey Reinhart is pretty much in the same situation as Tucker, playing doubles last year and making the switch over to No. 3 singles this year.

“Casey will be our anchor at third singles, and she is really looking forward to this year,” said her coach.

A pair of seniors will man the all-important No. 1 doubles slot and their experience from playing together as juniors will be extremely valuable.

George Washington University-bound Julia Allen will team with Erin Nelson and should cause problems for opponents.

“This will be a very strong doubles pair,” said their coach. “It will be fun to see how far they have come since they have been playing together.”

The No. 2 doubles slot will have a whole new look, as senior Therese Kozmiski will pair up with sophomore Nicole Hanrahan.

“Therese came to us three years ago and was a non-player, but has worked hard enough to earn a spot on our starting doubles team, while Nicole has shown me that she has a steady stroke and should partner well with Therese,” said Rossano.

Based on their season-opening win over Silver Lake, it looks like the second-year coach made some wise decisions.

Dowd had little trouble putting away Silver Lake’s Jenna Pitts, 6-1/6-1, while both doubles teams did their job in exemplary fashion.

Allen and Nelson defeated Lakers Haley Perron and Emily Schiarizzi, 6-1/6-2 at No. 1 doubles, while Kozmiski and Hanrahan were impressive in their debut with a 6-1/6-3 victory over Sam Crespi and Alison Boerger to sew up the three-game win.

Singles proved to be a little more complicated for Tucker, who dropped her No. 2 singles match to Taylor Grifa, 2-6/2-6, with Silver Lake’s Carolyn Milne knocking off Casey Reinhart at No. 3 singles, 2-6/1-6.